Beauty Photography | Pastel | Part 2

I recently got a comment on one of my photos on Instagram from a fellow photographer saying that he wished all of his models were able to do this.

This was the very strong expression on the model’s face. And I couldn’t agree more with him. What makes a good model to me is her ability to give, better than follow direction, to fit in a role. Do we expect her to be bold and defiant or sassy and fresh ?

Here for this pastel theme shoot, I wanted Kristina, the model, to embody grace, delicateness, fragility and innocence. Her features are perfect for this notion. The makeup and hand poses were all supporting the story. Yet ultimately it’s her expression that brought it all together.

And to be honest there’s a lot of satisfaction seeing the story emerge from a collective effort, where everyone brings their talent to make the narrative come to life.

This is the second part of the Pastel theme shoot. View part 1 here.

Creative team

Model Kristina at FiveTwenty Model Management

Hair & Makeup @NicholeLee

Photography @VivianePerenyi

Beauty | Summer Glow

Today’s story is an exploration of that free spirit and summer feel by the seaside when the warm light kisses the bare skin. If you start to see a recurrent theme in those beauty stories of mine, I do too. I guess this Sydney-way-of-life is slowly but surely sinking in.

Here’s a simple deconstruction of how I built this visual narrative.

• The light. As a photographer the light is the first way I think to craft a visual story. Because the light is what brings an atmosphere and what draws the viewer’s attention. Here it’s a play with the natural morning light: direct (third photo) and diffused and the use of a reflector (gold side) to bounce back warm light and fill in the shadows.

  It would have made sense to shoot this at the beach, but personal constraints came into play and we ended up shooting this in an urban park. Would you guess ?

• The look. Alisa, the model here, is the perfect beach babe who naturally matches the theme. Her look is just lightly enhanced to let her raw beauty shine through. In the third and last frames, her pose and the way her bang is pulled back give the illusion of the sea breeze blowing on her face.

• The props. Sometimes it’s the small detail that makes the difference. And the shell here helps to reinforce the concept. It acts as a visual clue, gives a sense of place and brings playfulness in the frame.

Of course there’s more that come into play, but those three elements woven together build the core of this visual story.

Stay tuned for a radically different look, yet from the same shoot in a coming post.

Creative team

Model Alisa Pensola | Hair and makeup Nichole Lee | Photographer Viviane Perenyi

Beauty | By the Pool | Part 3

For the third and last interpretation of the concept ‘by the pool ’, we leave behind the indoor pool.

This time the scene takes place outside, on the private pool deck of a luxurious villa. The subject is leisurely sunbathing on a long chair. Effortless and chic, her natural beauty is highlighted by the warm sunlight, the water reflection and her silky hair flowing.

In reality the set-up was far less glamour. Useless to say that there was no pool in sight as it was all shot in my small living room. And to achieve this kind of lighting I asked Mia to lie down under a large transparent container filled with water. The light was directly pointing to her face filtered through the water swayed by Nichole.

Things are not always as they seem, but I love creating stories.

For the whole editorial story that interprets the theme by the pool you can view Part 1 and part 2

Creative team Model: Mia Brooks | HMUA: Nichole Lee | Photography @VivianePerenyi

Beauty | By the Pool | Part 2

Click through to see part 1 of this series.

For the second interpretation of the ‘by the pool’ concept, the subject is the girl next door who just came out of the swimmingpool after a lap or two. She’s heading to the changing room with her hair and skin wet and her natural beauty barely enhanced.

This series was part of the editorial publication Dreamingless | Issue 49

Creative team Model: Mia Brooks | HMUA: Nichole Lee | Photographer Viviane Perenyi